The Murder of Rachel Nickell: Broadmoor staff share details of bleak life Robert Napper has now

The Murder of Rachel Nickell has just been released on Netflix, and the true crime film tells the horrific story of what happened to the mother, and why it took years for police to track down her killer, Robert Napper.

In 1992, Rachel Nickell was on a walk with her two-year-old son Alex in Wimbledon Common. Then, a stranger assaulted and killed Rachel, while Alex watched. She was later discovered when dog walkers found Alex clinging to his mother’s body. She had been s*xually assaulted, and stabbed 49 times.

The police had very few leads, and at first took Colin Stagg into custody, sure they had their man. He had been falsely accused, following an undercover mission with police. However, with Stagg in prison awaiting trial, Samantha Bisset and her four-year-old daughter Jazmine were attacked and killed.

Forensic evidence pointed to Robert Napper. It wasn’t until 2004, when new DNA results came to light, that Napper was also linked to the murder of Rachel Nickell.

Robert Napper is now housed at Broadmoor Hospital

Broadmoor Hospital, via Ins News/Shutterstock

In 1995, Robert Napper pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Samantha and Jazmine Bisset. He had also admitted to three unsolved s*xual assaults that occurred in 1989. He was sentenced to stay at Broadmoor Hospital, as he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

It wasn’t until 2008 that Napper pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Rachel Nickell. He was handed another life sentence, to be served at Broadmoor, a high-security psychiatric facility in Crowthorne. He is still serving his time there.

It’s been reported that life there for Napper is pretty bleak. He constantly gets death threats from other prisoners, as they all know his crimes and why he’s there. When he was waiting to be sentenced and was temporarily housed at another prison, he is said to have bragged about being moved to Broadmoor.

This rubbed inmates up the wrong way, and one is said to have hurled their breakfast over him. “Napper ran back to his cell, screaming. He wasn’t a tough guy at all,” a prison source said.

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After getting sentenced and moving into Broadmoor, Napper has been described as a model inmate himself. He is good at board games, and likes to play Scrabble. He also regularly plays sports and exercises at the facility gym. He plays football, swingball and uses weights and exercise machines.

“He’s basically very quiet on the wards. He’s not as clever as some of the patients but certainly not as simple as many of the others,” a staff member told The Mirror.

“He’s good at board games and is particularly fond of draughts and Scrabble. He likes to be called Bob but is polite and helpful most of the time and doesn’t threaten people, let alone actually do anything menacing.”

Napper is also said to be a keen volleyball player. The Broadmoor source added: “Napper loved the game and was pretty good at it too. He liked standing tall at the net and smashing the ball down. Napper wasn’t very good at football but he always gave it a go.”

via Netflix

There have been studies in Napper’s mind

Since his crimes, there have been deep studies into Napper’s mind. An article titled “Inside the mind of Robert Napper” discussed his “rage for women” and how he “loathed young mums with infants”. He was described as an “opportunistic” killer with an “obsession” with knives.

“It enraged him to see a mother as a sexual, desirous partner for an adult man,” the report said. “The pleas of this victim as she tried to protect her children may have reinforced his sense of power and s*xual pleasure.”

It concluded: “Napper associated his own gratification with the distress of victims; he mixed anger and sadism with s*x. His particular form of sadism appeared to be enhanced by making a mother feel the ultimate fear – recognition she could not save her child.”

The Murder of Rachel Nickell is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.